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(From left) Meg Whitman, Rick Scott and Linda McMahon are in for a quarter-billion dollars. | AP Photos
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It’s up to individual candidates, Gerstein said, to “capitalize — pun intended — on having all that money with having a good message, a good campaign, good character that gives people trust in you. … The political landscape is littered with people with big money, self-funders, who have had a lot of money.”

California, in particular, is no stranger to such characters: Then-Republican Rep. Michael Huffington spent $28 million of his fortune on a losing Senate campaign in 1994 — about one-fifth of Whitman’s total this year but, at the time, the most ever for a candidate not running for president.

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Northwest Airlines executive Al Checchi dropped $40 million on a failed bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination four years later.

But in Florida and Connecticut, such personal spending is still a relatively new phenomenon. And McMahon’s campaign is also evidence that there may be such a thing as spending too much money: A Quinnipiac University poll taken in late September — placing McMahon within 3 percentage points of Blumenthal — found that 95 percent of likely voters had seen her ads.

But 56 percent found them annoying.

“A lot of people are oversaturated,” said one Republican familiar with the Connecticut race. “They’ve heard everything there is to hear and more, 20 times over.”

“There’s no lack for anything on the campaign, as far as I can tell,” the strategist said. “They’ve got unlimited television, radio, mail. It’s hard to say that they’re spending it incorrectly. It’s just, at some point, do voters find that it becomes somewhat abusive?”

The 2010 campaign has already claimed a throng of self-financed candidates who found out cash doesn’t translate into support. Most notable is Florida billionaire Jeff Greene, the flamboyant and undisciplined real estate investor who spent more than $20 million to lose badly in the Democratic Senate primary to Rep. Kendrick Meek.

In her Republican primary campaign, Whitman faced state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a former telecommunications executive who invested about $24 million from his own bank account. He didn’t come close to matching Whitman’s spending — or her vote total. She defeated him by a nearly 40-point margin.

Now, Whitman, McMahon and Scott all find themselves on the edge of a general election vote that could effectively vaporize all their spending.

In part, strategists say, that’s because no amount of campaign spending can compensate for flawed candidates: McMahon’s background in professional wrestling has likely crippled her appeal with many of the female, suburban and independent voters who make up Connecticut’s swing vote.

Whitman’s problem could be more basic: She’s a Republican in a very Democratic state.

Despite Florida’s rightward lean this year, Scott has been unable to break away from Sink as the Democrat has hammered him on the air over his tenure at the Columbia/HCA hospital chain, which paid $1.7 billion in fines for Medicare fraud.

The liberal bias is obvious. Politico alternates between stories celebrating how much money Democrats are raising and complaining about how much money Republicans are spending. But the big surprise to everyone is going to be that this election cycle, policy counts for much more than money. No amount of money is going to erase that "D" next to the names of the folks who wasted trillions of dollars on the TARP and stimulus bills.

It is sad that in order to compete with the "war chests" (filled with the lobbyists kickback money) of the incumbents, basically only the very rich can run against. Again we have a clear picture as to what happens when the Congress members are allowed to fix the playing field and giving themselves the "home field" advantage.

The message to the peons (the ordinary citizen) is that unless you have millions to fund your campaign, you will slaughtered by the media and the establishment - so don't even BOTHER to run against the Establishment. It takes millions to fight off the onslaught of negative ads - and since you have the audacity to run against the closed career politician "family" - you better be prepared to have every aspect of your life opened to both truths and rumors.

Then, the next step of the chastising is "WHY would anyone spend millions in order to buy their seat for a measly less than $200 K salary?" The answer MAY be that they enjoy power - but that should be reserved for the sitting Congress member who has written the laws to make it next to impossible for them to lose. The answer MAY be that truly believe that they can help make our nation better with their business experiences - but that would make them more of a danger to the sitting Congress members who have for their entire adulthood have lived off the labors of the people - and got wealthy the old fashion way - via prostitution of their votes.

Time to change the election laws to allow the ability of the People to run for office without having to fight against a sitting member and his/her millions in their war chest before he/she even seeks reelection.

C'mon These folks...like ..say Rush (makes over $50 million a year) connect on a real level with older white folks who try to determine which bill next month not to pay and get away with it...If you were told to be upset that Juan Williams was treated badly by NPR before he signed a multimillion $$$ contract with FOX...by outraged folks who already have multimillion $$$ contracts.with FOX..or NBC/CBS/ABC/CNN..and really believe it? ...cool.

If you really...really ..believe Rush/Beck put gas in their own car in the past 5 years..and wondered like you..."I don't have enough money to fill it up"...cool ..If you really believe your "heroes" that pretend to identify with choices you have to make each month on which bills to pay? ...cool..

But please understand why some folks who believe any really rich person who panders to us just getting by with "I feel your pain" is NOT limited to former President Clinton...It is Rush...it is Beck..at some point in time ya gotta quit letting rich people determine what you are afraid of...

It would suggest they are interested in winning and can muster the resources to do so.

Where is the story in that?

Politico must under Journolist type marching orders to ignore real news - like the DoJ corruption that WaPo could no longer ignore - and finally reported on yesterday'

It's amazing how Politico writers will write about the most banal things to avoid addressing real issues that expose problems that reflect negatively on their team. What in-the-tank political hacks! Very transparent ones, too.

C'mon These folks...like ..say Rush (makes over $50 million a year) connect on a real level with older white folks who try to determine which bill next month not to pay and get away with it...If you were told to be upset that Juan Williams was treated badly by NPR before he signed a multimillion $$$ contract with FOX...by outraged folks who already have multimillion $$$ contracts.with FOX..or NBC/CBS/ABC/CNN..and really believe it? ...cool.

If you really...really ..believe Rush/Beck put gas in their own car in the past 5 years..and wondered like you..."I don't have enough money to fill it up"...cool ..If you really believe your "heroes" that pretend to identify with choices you have to make each month on which bills to pay? ...cool..

But please understand why some folks who believe any really rich person who panders to us just getting by with "I feel your pain" is NOT limited to former President Clinton...It is Rush...it is Beck..at some point in time ya gotta quit letting rich people determine what you are afraid of...

So how much have their opponents spent? Where did THEIR money come from? How much of it came from overseas? How much of it was taxpayer money filtered through the public sector unions? How much of it was special interest money that was given in expectation of favorable legislation that would enrich them at the expense of the taxpayers? Where are the menacing-looking photos of their opponents with their faces in deep shadow?

Anyone delusional enough to argue that the leftist media is fair and balanced?

Anyone clueless enough to disagree that most of the leftist media acts as nothing more than the propaganda wing for the marxist party?

C'mon These folks...like ..say Rush (makes over $50 million a year) connect on a real level with older white folks who try to determine which bill next month not to pay and get away with it...

To add to your argument, the Democrats/Liberals claim to be for the poor, working class, and minorities, but spend most of their time yachting and insulting the intelligence of the poor and working class. They are completely out of touch. I'd even argue that they exploit these groups for votes.

I agree on Rush and Beck as well. It's easy to hold such strict conservative ideals when you are extremely wealthy. Had these two not made it big, they'd be whining and begging for government hand-outs.

But please understand why some folks who believe any really rich person who panders to us just getting by with "I feel your pain" is NOT limited to former President Clinton...It is Rush...it is Beck..at some point in time ya gotta quit letting rich people determine what you are afraid of...

At some point, you need to take responsibility for your own life.

Work hard, take advantage of all of the opportunities you have in this still great country and you can succeed yourself.

Get over the thought that government is there to take care of you. That mentality and the class warfare you imply is what is ruining you and the country.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is now the biggest outside spender of the 2010 elections, thanks to an 11th-hour effort to boost Democrats that has vaulted the public-sector union ahead of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO and a flock of new Republican groups in campaign spending.